Tag: CRV

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Wrong Time, Right Place

Okay.  I admit I’ve been away for a while.  I suppose you want to know what I’ve been up to this past week or so.  Well, here goes.

Most of last week I struggled with my cold.  It didn’t slow me down too much, but I did take naps most afternoons.

Friday morning, I decided to go to Harris Teeter to pick up my 47 cents per pound turkey before my Prayer Shawl meeting.  I took my time going up and down the aisles, filling my cart with their specials knowing I had until 11:00.  After a while, I glanced down at my watch and discovered it was 10:50.  I hurried to the checkout where I stood behind an older gentleman with a few items in his cart and many questions regarding his receipt.  I realized patience was my best course of action since nobody would care if I was late.

After loading my groceries into the back of the CRV, I climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.  I happened to glance at the clock and noticed that it read 10:15.  Oops!  Apparantly I never adjusted my watch when we fell back with the clocks a couple of weeks ago.  As my reality sinqed with the real world, I realized I would be really early for meeting instead of late.  I decided to head over to Starbucks for a latte.

With my latte and lemon pound cake in hand, I drove across the street to the church and gave my friend Sarah a call to kill some time.  As we were talking, I happened to notice some steam or smoke coming from the engine.  Glancing at the temperature gauge, I saw my engine was hot – something I’ve never seen on this car.  So, I said goodbye to Sarah. popped the hood and gave Dave a call.

My phone was apparantly in the process of updating something and promptly dropped my call and froze the touch screen.  By this time, some of the ladies were beginning to arrive for our meeting.  Soon my friend Carol approached the car to take a look with me.  I gave her the rundown and she called her brother.  A few minutes later, a fellow who works with Dave showed up to see if he could help. (Dave was interviewing a prospective hire and would be tied up for the next hour.)  For the next ten minutes or so Carol, her brother, Dave’s associate and I debated on what my next course of action should be.  Since it appeared that the problem was with the radiator, we decided to let it cool until we could add some water and then I would drive it to the garage around the corner.  Knitting in hand, Carol and I went into the church together. So, I actually was late for my meeting after all!

An hour later, Dave arrived.  We transferred the groceries to his car and he followed me to the repair shop.   

Some might think I was just lucky to have been at the church.  I prefer to think it was God’s way of reminding me that I’m not alone.  After all, technically, this isn’t even my  church, but these ladies are a big part of my community.

As for the CRV, it needed a new radiator

 

 

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Life…. on the Road

I passed a major milestone yesterday.  On my way home from the grocery store the odometer on my CRV turned 100,000 miles.  I’ve never put that many miles on a car before.  Even our late Nissan Sentra (RIP) which we also owned for eleven years had less than 50,000 on it and when it was hit.  Such a long distance – four times around the earth – where had we been in my sporty little Honda?

Mostly, the miles were short trips, back and forth to work, church or the store.  I remember the first time I drove it to work when it was bright and shiny red and had that “new car smell”.   My office pals all came out to the parking lot to watch politely as I proudly opened all the doors.  They oohed and aahed when I pulled out the back wheel well cover and pulled its legs revealing a card table in disguise!  Practical and utilitarian, my CRV was all I wanted in a car with the added bonus of providing me with an elevated view of the road – something nature had denied me.  Never again would rain flooded streets keep me from arriving at my destination.

Aside from the day to day commutes to and from work and the errands of life, the CRV has taken us on many road trips.   The first was to take Maggie to Longwood for Freshman orientation.  With its abundant cargo space, my little red car was ideal for carting kids back and forth to college.  That fall, it was Maggie, the next fall was Andy’s turn.  One Thanksgiving, when car pools fell through, we took a round trip with Maggie to Farmville and then headed south to drop Andy off in Durham.  Sadly , we will remember that trip as “the time we hit the fox”.  Fortunately that is the only one notch on our bumper.

I was rear-ended once on my way home from work.  It was a rainy evening and the guy behind me just barely hit me, ripping my wheel cover and badly damaging his front grill.  We both deemed it unnecessary of policy or insurance company involvement but exchanged business cards.  He actually called me the next day to make sure I was OK.

The CRV is great for toting things.  We proved this with our three local moved in Virginia Beach.  It is truly amazing what can be crammed into that car.   Over the years we have hauled furniture, shrubbery, mulch, loads to the Goodwill and did pick-ups from the Food Bank and BJ’s to the St. Mark’s Food Pantry – not mentioning the countless trips to and from college campuses.  One time, while shopping at Sam’s Club, we saw an old woman and her son attempting to fit an oversized television box (not a flat screen) into the trunk of her car.  No way was it going to fit.  We offered our assistance and followed her home with the TV in the back of our car!

The CRV is also a great beach car, easily holding all the chairs, coolers, umbrellas and assorted beach stuff needed for a day or even week at the beach.  Because of this, I’m ashamed to admit that my car has not been the tidiest vehicle on the road.  Many times its carpets have been dirt and sand covered and the litter bags overflowing with tissues and candy wrappers, bearing witness to my season allergies and life long sweet tooth.  Once I won a bet and a couple of my friends were supposed to have it detailed for me, but somehow that never happened.

I do love my CRV.  Sometimes I see a newer model or even another kind of car and think it might be nice to have a new one but then I’ll come out of a store scanning the lot to see where I’ve parked and see the now faded cherry red paint of my car, with the cheery Jack In The Box clown ball on my antenea and fall in love all over again.  God willing and the creek don’t rise over my wheel wells, I’ll be driving my CRV for another 100,000 miles!